Track 7:San Francisco-Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair

[SunlessNick]

Zara's pretty small, so she crawls into the car to undo the unconscious dude's seatbelt - "Lew, can you help pull him out?"

[Starspawn338]

Lew follows Zara to the side of the car and attempts to pull the man out as Zara loosens the seat belt.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Tony walks forward slowly, maintaining a non-threatening distance between him and the pair.

“Tell you what ol’ chum, I’ll give you a chance to explain yourself. What gives, hm?”

The man makes no reply, but keeps an eye on Tony, probably figuring he's more of a threat than Liz. That allows Liz to . . .

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Liz slips her mace into her hand and gets out of the van on the opposite side from the man so that he cannot see her. She plans a course to intercept him and sneak up behind him.

OOC,Dexterity roll (12) trying to sneak behind the kidnapper: [dice]235110:0[/dice]

Spoiler:

Borderline result, so let's mix things up a bit.

. . . sneak up behind the guy, Mace in hand. Just at the last moment, however, the stunned driver sees what's going on and shouts "Watch out, Tony! Behind you!"

Spoiler:

DEX battle between Liz and Tony. In that order, DEX = 12 AND 9[dice]0[/dice]

Both successful, so . . .

Just as Liz sprays the Mace into the man's face, he whips his pistol at the can, knocking it out of her hand.

Spoiler:

severity of Mace[dice]1[/dice]

The man coughs and cries, but it seems that he was only exposed to a small amount of the nasty stuff.

"Any more funny stuff and she gets it!" He continues to drag the woman away.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Meanwhile . . .

Spoiler:

DEX rolls for both Zara and Lew. In that order, 13 and 9[dice]0[/dice]

While attempting to undo the seat belt -- which, by the way, is still an unusual feature to find in a hot rod, the law making it mandatory to have seat belts in all vehicles in the USA not taking effect until the New Year -- Zara manages to get herself stuck in the vehicle. No doubt inspired to heroic action by her predicament, Lew is able to pull the Johnny to safety. That still leaves Zara trapped, with the fumes of gasoline filling the air.

[SunlessNick]

With Lew occupied by the unconscious guy, Zara calls to the other boy and girl, "Help me, I'm stuck!" She tries to figure out a way to free herself, maybe trying to use where the belt's attached as leverage.

[jp1885]

Oblivious to Zara’s predicament, Tony continues to square up to the guy with the pistol. While the mook is distracted by Liz, he readies his stick.

Then, using his new-found power, he teleports to a spot directly behind the guy and attempts to clobber him across the head.

[Mr. Handy]

Liz puts up her hands to show she's no longer a threat. "I'd like to propose an exchange," she says. "Take me with you instead of her. If it's ransom you want, my family is extremely wealthy. If it's something else you have in mind, let me point out that while she is lovely, I'm even more attractive than she is." Liz is confident that she can think of something, or failing that, Tony and the others can rescue her, especially since the intended captive could share information with them about what exactly is going on here.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

With Lew occupied by the unconscious guy, Zara calls to the other boy and girl, "Help me, I'm stuck!" She tries to figure out a way to free herself, maybe trying to use where the belt's attached as leverage.

Spoiler:

DEX = 13[dice]0[/dice]

Zara manages to free herself from this seeming death trap just soon enough to get out of harm's way when the tangled mass of twisted metal explodes with an ear-shattering BOOM! Flames rise high into the sky. The young man and woman examine the unconscious Johnny, shaking and slapping her lightly in an attempt to bring him out of it, but he's out cold. From the look of it, he's lost a lot of blood and is otherwise in bad shape.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

The abductor completely ignores Liz, simply intent on escaping with his prize. That doesn't prevent Tony from sneaking behind him in a very unusual manner.

Spoiler:

dex 14 + 3 for the Baritsu = 17[dice]0[/dice]

damage[dice]1[/dice]

The fellow sustains a serious but not debilitating head wound, causing him to drop the gun and let go of the woman's hand. Stunned by what's happened, without really understanding it, he decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and takes off running as fast as he can into the scrub land. The woman falls to the ground in a dead faint.

[jp1885]

Having knelt down to pocket the pistol, Tony is about to attend to the woman when the hotrod explodes behind him. He looks up at Liz in alarm.

“One of us had better go and help while the other sees to this young lady,” he says, willing to fulfil either role.

[SunlessNick]

Zara crouches down, hugging herself and shaking, relieved to be alive.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'll look after her," says Liz, retrieving her mace. "You might want to try to stop the driver from escaping first, if he hasn't already." She bends down beside the woman to examine her for injuries and try to revive her.

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

The woman has only minor bruises, not counting the damage done to her expensive clothes. She wakes up after a few minutes, still groggy. She sits up and asks "What happened? The last thing I remember, I was at Daddy's party, then everything went black. Then I woke up with my eyes covered up in the back of a moving car. I tried to fight my way out . . . Who are you people? What do you want from me?"

The driver remains in the car, hands raised in the universal sign of surrender.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The flames from the wreck quickly set the brush next to the road aflame, producing thick, black smoke that rises high into the sky. Somebody at a distance must be able to see it, because it's not much later that the sound of sirens can be heard from faraway.

[SunlessNick]

Zara moves further away from the flames. She looks in the direction of the injured Johnny, but doesn't approach, not really wanting to talk to the other pair who ignored her own call for help.

[Starspawn338]

Lew goes to the driver who's still conscious and begins to berate him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? If we hadn't come by, Johnny would be dead right now and you'd be facing a long prison term. Not only yourselves, but my friend and I put ourselves in mortal danger just to ensure that no one died today. There's a reason that races are done at tracks in controlled situations where they have fire crews and paramedics to deal with crashes. Count yourself lucky that you only lost your vehicle."

After his anger subsides, he heads over to Zara to help her to her feet and make sure she's okay.

[SunlessNick]

After his anger subsides, he heads over to Zara to help her to her feet and make sure she's okay.

"Thanks, I'm ok. Just a bit shaky. Good speech," she finishes with a wan smile.

[jp1885]

Tony sighs with relief when he sees that everyone is uninjured in the explosion. Leaving Liz to look after the girl and Zara and Lew to berate the teens, he turns his attention to the driver of the Rolls.

"Okay Sonny Jim, out you get," he says, ordering him out of the car. "Would you care to explain yourself?"

[Mr. Handy]

"We're here to rescue you," says Liz in a reassuring tone. "We were on our way to San Francisco when we saw you trying to escape, and we stopped to help you. My name is Liz. What's yours?"

[VictoriaSilverwolf]

Lew goes to the driver who's still conscious and begins to berate him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? If we hadn't come by, Johnny would be dead right now and you'd be facing a long prison term. Not only yourselves, but my friend and I put ourselves in mortal danger just to ensure that no one died today. There's a reason that races are done at tracks in controlled situations where they have fire crews and paramedics to deal with crashes. Count yourself lucky that you only lost your vehicle."

After his anger subsides, he heads over to Zara to help her to her feet and make sure she's okay.

"Cool it, Pops," the young man says weakly. "We're just out for kicks, dig? Can't get kicks without some danger, right?" He then passes out.